Critical Readings on Tang China [Volume 1] 9004380159, 9789004380158

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Critical Readings on Tang China Volume 1

Paul W. Kroll - 978-90-04-38015-8 Downloaded from Brill.com11/09/2020 11:07:29AM via free access

Paul W. Kroll - 978-90-04-38015-8 Downloaded from Brill.com11/09/2020 11:07:29AM via free access

Critical Readings on Tang China volume 1

Edited by

Paul W. Kroll

LEIDEN | BOSTON

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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov Library of Congress Control Number: 2018962592

Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface isbn 978-90-04-28113-4 (hardback, set) isbn 978-90-04-28169-1 (hardback, vol. 1) isbn 978-90-04-28168-4 (hardback, vol. 2) isbn 978-90-04-28167-7 (hardback, vol. 3) isbn 978-90-04-28166-0 (hardback, vol. 4) isbn 978-90-04-38015-8 (e-book, vol. 1) isbn 978-90-04-38016-5 (e-book, vol. 2) isbn 978-90-04-38019-6 (e-book, vol. 3) isbn 978-90-04-38020-2 (e-book, vol. 4) Copyright 2019 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi, Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

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Contents Volume 1 Tang Emperors’ Accession Dates and Reign Titles (nianhao 年號) xi General Introduction 1 Paul W. Kroll

History—Political, Intellectual, and Military 1 Wen Ta-ya: The First Recorder of T’ang History 11 Woodbridge Bingham 2 The Rise to Power of the T’ang Dynasty: A Reassessment 17 Howard J. Wechsler 3 The T’ang Imperial Family 41 Denis Twitchett 4 Canonical Scholarship 100 David McMullen 5 Neo-Confucianism and Neo-Legalism in T’ang Intellectual Life, 755–805 163 Edwin G. Pulleyblank 6 The Structure of T’ang Selection 214 P. A. Herbert 7 Decree Examinations in T’ang China 237 P. A. Herbert

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8 The Bureaucratic Apparatus [of T’ang Historians] 267 Denis Twitchett 9 Bureaucracy and Cosmology: The Ritual Code of T’ang China 295 David McMullen 10

Wei Cheng’s Thought [esp. Regarding Government] 346 Howard J. Wechsler

11

Imperial Power and the Ruling Class [under Empress Wu] 367 Richard W. L. Guisso

12

The Chou Dynasty [of Empress Wu] 404 Richard W. L. Guisso

13

The Career of Yang Kuei-fei 455 Howard S. Levy

14

The Flight from the Capital and the Death of Precious Consort Yang 482 Paul W. Kroll

15

Foreign Policy 503 P. A. Herbert

16

The An Lu-shan Rebellion and the Origins of Chronic Militarism in Late T’ang China 518 Edwin G. Pulleyblank

Volume 2 Literature and Cultural History 17

T’ang Literati: A Composite Biography 545 Hans H. Frankel

18

Transparencies: Reading the T’ang Lyric 566 Stephen Owen

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19

The Significance of the fu in the History of T’ang Poetry 584 Paul W. Kroll

20 An Offering to the Prince: Wang Bo’s Apology for Poetry 597 Ding Xiang Warner 21

Tamed Kite and Stranded Fish: Interference and Apology in Lu Chao-lin’s fu 636 Paul W. Kroll

22

A Re-evaluation of Chen Ziang’s “Manifesto of a Poetic Reform” 666 Timothy Wai Keung Chan

23

On Li Po 694 Elling O. Eide

24 Li Po’s Letters in Pursuit of Political Patronage 731 Victor H. Mair 25 Li Bai’s “Rhapsody on the Hall of Light”: A Singular Vision of Cosmic Order 762 Nicholas Morrow Williams 26 Tu Fu 825 Stephen Owen 27

Tu Fu’s Social Conscience: Compassion and Topicality in his Poetry 894 Shan Chou

28 Poems in Their Place: Collections and Canons in Early Chinese Literature 936 Pauline Yu 29 Heyue yingling ji and the Attributes of High Tang Poetry 967 Paul W. Kroll 30 The Formation of the Tang Estate Poem 1001 Stephen Owen

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Volume 3 31

Lexical Landscapes and Textual Mountains in the High T’ang 1021 Paul W. Kroll

32 Historical and Literary Theory in the Mid-Eighth Century 1060 David McMullen 33 The Manuscript Legacy of the Tang: The Case of Literature 1096 Stephen Owen 34 Literary Collections in Tang Dynasty China 1126 Christopher M. B. Nugent 35 A Study of the Jinglong Wenguan Ji 1171 Jia Jinhua 36 The Old-Style fu of Han Yu 1204 David R. Knechtges 37

Another Go at the Mao Ying chuan 1230 Elling O. Eide

38 The Old Men [of the Early Ninth Century] 1235 Stephen Owen 39 The Inscription of Emotion in Mid-Tang Collegial Letters 1281 Anna M. Shields 40 Yüan Chen and ‘The Story of Ying-ying’ 1326 James R. Hightower 41

Nostalgia and History in Mid-Ninth-Century Verse: Cheng Yü’s Poem on “The Chin-yang Gate” 1360 Paul W. Kroll

42 Remembering Kaiyuan and Tianbao: The Construction of Mosaic Memory in Medieval Historical Miscellanies 1441 Manling Luo

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43 The Dancing Horses of T’ang 1476 Paul W. Kroll 44 Falconry in T’ang Times 1504 Edward H. Schafer 45 Public Values in Calligraphy and Orthography in the Tang Dynasty 1540 Amy McNair

Volume 4 Religion 46 The Role of Buddhist Monasteries in T’ang Society 1559 Kenneth K. S. Ch’en 47 Buddhism and Education in T’ang Times 1580 Erik Zürcher 48 Imperial Patronage in the Formation of T’ang Buddhism 1622 Stanley Weinstein 49 Stūpa, Sūtra, Śarīra in China, c. 656–706 CE 1663 T. H. Barrett 50 The Birth of a Patriarch: The Biography of Hui-neng 1714 Philip B. Yampolsky 51

Metropolitan Chan: Imperial Patronage and the Chan Style 1743 John McRae

52 Time after Time: Taoist Apocalyptic History and the Founding of the T’ang Dynasty 1776 Stephen R. Bokenkamp 53 Taoist Ordination Ranks in the Tun-huang Manuscripts 1805 Kristofer M. Schipper

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54 Taoism in the T’ien-pao Era, 742–56 1829 T. H. Barrett 55 Li Po’s Transcendent Diction 1839 Paul W. Kroll 56 Immortality Can be Studied 1875 Jan De Meyer 57

The Worshippers of Mount Hua 1915 Glen Dudbridge Index of Personal Names 1949

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Tang Emperors’ Accession Dates and Reign Titles (nianhao 年號) Lefthand column is Western year in which a particular reign-title was adopted. Ruler’s accession date (in parenthesis) follows name. Note that sometimes a ruler’s first new reign-title was not adopted until months after his actual accession or in the following year; e.g. Tang Taizong’s reign actually began in 626, not 627 when for the first time he proclaimed a new reign-title. Column following a reign-title gives the Chinese month and day of that reign-title’s adoption; righthand column gives corresponding Western month and day. 618 627 650 656 661 664 666 668 670 674 676 679 680 681 682 683 684 684 684 685 689 689

Gaozu 高祖 (18 Jne, 618) Taizong 太宗 (4 Sep, 626) Gaozong 高宗 (15 Jly, 649)

Zhongzong 中宗 (3 Jan, 684) Ruizong 睿宗 (27 Feb, 684)

Wude 武德 Zhenguan 貞觀 Yonghui 永徽 Xianqing 顯慶 Longshuo 龍朔 Linde 麟德 Qianfeng 乾封 Zongzhang 總章 Xianheng 咸亨 Shangyuan 上元 Yifeng 儀鳳 Tiaolu 調露 Yonglong 永隆 Kaiyao 開耀 Yongchun 永淳 Hongdao 弘道 Sisheng 嗣聖 Wenming 文明 Guangzhai 光宅 Chuigong 垂供 Yongchang 永昌 Zaichu 載初

v.20 i.1 i.1 i.7 ii.30 i.1 i.5 iii.6 iii.1 viii.15 xi.8 vi.3 ix.23 ix.30 ii.19 xii.4 i.1 ii.6 ix.6 i.1 i.1 i.1*

Jne 18 Jan 23 Feb 7 Feb 7 Apr 4 Feb 2 Feb 14 Apr 22 Mar 27 Sep 20 Dec 18 Jly 15 Sep 22 Nov 15 Apr 2 Dec 27 Jan 23 Feb 27 Oct 19 Feb 9 Feb 27 Dec 18

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Tang Emperors ’ Accession Dates and Reign Titles

Zhou 周 interregnum (690-705) 690 692 692 694 694 695 696 696 697 697 700 701 701

Wu Zetian 武則天 (16 Oct)

ix.9*

Oct 16

Ruyi 如意 Changshou 長壽 Yanzai 延載 Zhengsheng 證聖 Tiance wansui 天冊萬歲 Wansui dengfeng 萬歲登封 Wansui tongtian 萬歲通天 Shengong 神功 Shengli 聖曆 Jiushi 久視 Dazu 大足 Chang’an 長安

iv.1* ix.9* v.11* i.1* ix.9* la.20* iii.16* ix.9* i.1* v.5* i.3 x.22

Apr 22 Oct 23 Jne 9 Nov 23 Oct 22 Jan 20 Apr 22 Sep 28 Dec 20 May 27 Feb 15 Nov 26

* From Zaichu through Jiushi, old Zhou calendar employed, with usual 1th month designated as zhengyue 正月 and 12th month as layue 臘月.)

705 707 710 710 712 712 712 713 742 756 758 760 762 763 765 766 780 784

Tianshou 天授

Restored Tang Zhongzong 中宗 (23 Feb, 705) Shaodi 少帝 (5 Jly, 710) Ruizong 睿宗 (25 Jly, 710) Xuanzong 玄宗 (8 Sep, 712) Suzong 肅宗 (12 Aug, 756)

Daizong 代宗 (18 May, 762) Dezong 德宗 (12 Jne, 779)

Shenlong 神龍 Jinglong 景龍 Tanglong 唐隆 Jingyun 景雲 Taiji 太極 Yanhe 延和 Xiantian 先天 Kaiyuan 開元 Tianbao 天寶 Zhide 至德 Qianyuan 乾元 Shangyuan 上元 Baoying 寶應 Guangde 廣德 Yongtai 永泰 Dali 大曆 Jianzhong 建中 Xingyuan 興元

i.1 ix.5 vi.4 vii.20 i.15 v.13 viii.7 xii.1 i.1 viii.12 ii.5 iv.19 iv.15 vii.11 i.1 xi.12 i.1 i.1

Jan 30 Oct 5 Jly 5 Aug 19 Mar 1 Jne 21 Sep 12 Dec 22 Feb 10 Aug 12 Mar 18 Jne 7 May 13 Aug 24 Jan 26 Dec 18 Feb 11 Jan 27

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Tang Emperors ’ Accession Dates and Reign Titles

785 805 806 821 825 827 837 841 847 860 874 880 881 885 888 889 890 892 894 898 901 904 904 907

Shunzong 順宗 (28 Feb, 805) Xianzong 憲宗 (5 Sep, 805) Muzong 穆宗 (20 Feb, 820) Jingzong 敬宗 (29 Feb, 824) Wenzong 文宗 (13 Jan, 827) Wuzong 武宗 (20 Feb, 840) Xuanzong 宣宗 (25 Apr, 846) Yizong 懿宗 (13 Sep, 859) Xizong 僖宗 (15 Aug, 873)

Zhaozong 昭宗 (22 Apr, 888)

Aidi 哀帝 (26 Oct, 904)

Zhenyuan 貞元 Yongzhen 永貞 Yuanhe 元和 Changqing 長慶 Baoli 寶曆 Taihe 太和 Kaicheng 開成 Huichang 會昌 Dazhong 大中 Xiantong 咸通 Qianfu 乾符 Guangming 廣明 Zhonghe 中和 Guangqi 光啟 Wende 文德 Longji 隆紀 Dashun 大順 Jingfu 景福 Qianning 乾寧 Guanghua 光化 Tianfu 天復 Tianyou 天佑

i.1 viii.5 i.2 i.4 i.7 ii.13 i.1 i.9 i.17 xi.12 xi.5 i.1 vii.11 iii.14 ii.22 i.1 i.1 i.21 i.1 viii.27 iv.25 iv.11

Feb 14 Sep 1 Jan 25 Feb 9 Jan 29 Mar 14 Jan 22 Feb 4 Feb 6 Dec 17 Dec 17 Feb 14 Aug 9 Apr 2 Apr 7 Feb 4 Jan 25 Feb 22 Feb 10 Sep 16 May 16 May 28

end of Tang

iv.22

Jne 5

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General Introduction The fifty-seven articles and book chapters reprinted in this four-volume set of Critical Readings on Tang China aim to give a broadly representative survey of English-language scholarship on the Tang from the past three generations. The Tang 唐 dynasty, formally founded on 18 June 618 and officially terminated on 5 June 907, was the second great imperium of Chinese history (the first being the Han 漢 dynasty of 202 BCE to 220 CE) and, in the opinion of many people, its three centuries were the cultural and political high point of traditional China. During this time Tang China was the most advanced civilization in the world, as well as being the most extensive territorial empire. At its fullest strength the Tang controlled all of what we think of today as “China proper” and also exercised administrative suzerainty westward over most of central Asia (excepting Tibet), including the Tarim Basin and Taklamakan Desert and across the Pamir range to the Hindu Kush in present-day Afghanistan— domains once known in the West by the romantic names of Dzungaria, Sogdiana, Ferghana, and Transoxiana. To the southeast the Tang empire reached far into what we now know as northern Vietnam, the former Annam. And eastward during these centuries, Tang China was the dominant cultural influence over the newly developing states of Korea and Japan. Immediately preceding the Tang, the Sui 隋 dynasty, established in north China in 581 as successor to the Northern Zhou 北周 (557–581), conquered eight years later the Chen 陳 dynasty (557–589) that was the last of six southern dynasties centered on Jiankang 建康 (present-day Nanjing) after the demise of the Han. The Sui thus became the first dynasty in nearly three centuries to reunite all of China under a single rule. But the Sui did not last, being replaced in 618 by the Tang. Thus the short-lived Sui stands in relationship to the Tang rather like the brief but preparatory Qin 秦 (221–206 BCE) in its relationship to the following and longer-lasting Han. The vast empire of the Tang was administratively organized as a collection of roughly 350 prefectures (zhou 州) or commanderies ( jun 郡) and, under those more than 1200 districts (xian 縣) of roughly county size. There were also higher-level officials, often called “commissioners” (shi 使) with various specific titles and duties of supervision coordinating designated matters of several prefectures or larger areas. On the margins of the empire were military protectorates holding more or less loose control over various “foreign” areas and populations. The chief officials of the far-flung local domains of the empire were centrally appointed by the court and sent out from the capital for

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set terms, ideally to be evaluated periodically and then promoted or demoted, as deserved, to posts in other locations, thus diminishing the possibility that any individual official might build up a private sphere of power. Of course the most desirable postings were always those in the capital city of Chang’an 長安 (near present-day Xi’an 西安) or, failing that, in the secondary capital at Luoyang 洛陽. The Tang capital of Chang’an was a walled city comprising approximately thirty square miles that had been built from the ground up with the founding of the Sui in the early 580s. It was located southeast of the site of several previous capitals called Chang’an, going back to pre-imperial times. This new city, which the Sui named Daxingcheng 大興城, was laid out on a grid pattern, comprising one hundred and six separate walled neighborhoods as well as a large bureaucratic compound and an even larger palace enclave for the imperial family. When the Tang took it over, they applied to it the historic name Chang’an and would continue to develop it throughout the dynasty. At its height it accommodated a million people within its walls, with another million in the near suburbs—an urban-centered population that would only begin to be approached elsewhere in the world by Baghdad in the mid-ninth century and Córdoba in the tenth—and which included large representations of traders and shopkeepers, monks and divines, musicians and entertainers from all corners and regions of Asia. The “foreign” element, particularly from the widespread oasis cities and settlements of central Asia, contributed to Chang’an’s truly cosmopolitan character. The dynasty’s secondary capital of Luoyang, where the court was in residence at various times, was not as large or as exactingly laid out but was only slightly less grand than Chang’an. The other great cities of the realm included especially Jinling 金陵 in the Yangzi delta, which (as Jiankang) had been the capital of a succession of “southern” dynasties during the four centuries between the Han and the Tang, and Yangzhou 揚州 (also called, as of old, Guangling 廣陵), slightly downstream from Jinling and on the opposite shore of the Long River (Changjiang 長江, as the Yangzi was then called). There were also dozens of other cities and hundreds of small towns that constituted the functional map of Tang imperial governance. The greatness and legacy of the Tang can be seen in many areas. In terms of political and institutional history, the forms and practices of administration during the Tang remained (with some alterations) largely the norm for the succeeding millennium of imperial history. A few examples are the civil-service examination for prospective officials, the nationally applicable legal code, establishment of a government bureau for the drafting of an official state history, the system of bureaucratic review and transferral of centrally appointed

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officials, an extensively organized and carefully maintained network of postal and staging stations for official communication and administrative travel. The literary achievements of Tang writers (most of whom were at least sometime members of or aspirants to the state bureaucracy), especially evident in verse but also in other genres, are well known and have become a significant part of the history of world literature and the record of humanity’s highest individual responses to the beauties and sufferings of life. In religious and intellectual history, too, the Tang left its mark, most notably with the sinicized form of Buddhism known as Chan (Japanese: Zen) which even today is the most pervasive tradition of Buddhism in East Asia. In this sphere one must take account also of religious Daoism, which was equally prevalent throughout the Tang empire, having extra import because of the dynastic family’s claimed descent from the ancient sage Laozi. We speak of the Tang as a successful dynasty that lasted for nearly three centuries, unlike the relatively brief Sui, but this picture needs some qualification. It took several years after the founding of Tang in 618 before other rival claimants for the fallen Sui mantle were completely defeated; and even at that point one could not be sure whether the Tang would last or for how long. In the event, it did endure. Yet even this is something of an intentional misreading. For the Tang was formally abolished on 16 October 690, replaced by the Zhou 周 dynasty of Empress Wu 武后 (also known as Wu Zetian 武則天), formerly the chief wife of Emperor Gaozong 高宗 (r. 649–683) and now the first and only woman in Chinese history to wield power in her own name, after previously exercising unofficial control over the court during the last dozen or so years of Gaozong’s life. In 690, with the supplanting of the Tang, it would have looked to contemporaries as though the Tang had been just one more in the line of brief dynasties lasting only two or three generations that had been the norm in the Nanbeichao period. However, Empress Wu refrained from putting to death her two sons by Gaozong, each of whom had briefly occupied the throne, while she pulled the strings, after Gaozong’s demise and before Empress Wu’s own usurpation (Zhongzong 中宗, r. Jan.–Feb. 684; and Ruizong 睿宗, r. 684–690). While these demoted scions lived there persisted some anamnesis, even a reservoir of loyalty, toward the dynastic Li 李 family among a portion of the officialdom and aristocracy, so that when the aged empress was deposed on 23 February 705, it was not only possible but seemingly apposite that the Li line of succession should be restored and with it the Tang dynasty once more. Later historians, even up to the present, have regarded the fifteen-year Zhou interregnum as an illegitimate interruption and thus usually treat the Tang as having continued unbroken throughout that period, though in actuality it did not.

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One curious result of the Zhou interregnum was that the feasibility—if not the formal acceptance—of female rule had been proven, to the point that Zhongzong’s court (r. 705–710) in the restored Tang was essentially dominated by women, namely his Empress Wei 韋后, their daughter Princess Anle 安樂, and Shangguan Wan’er 上官婉兒, a woman of exceptional literary talent who had been Empress Wu’s secretary and drafter of decrees and who had resourcefully transferred her services to Empress Wei. The poisoning of Zhongzong in 710 by his empress and daughter was meant to secure the throne, effectively if not in name, for the latter. But it was another woman, Princess Taiping 太平, favored daughter of Empress Wu and Gaozong, who, along with her nephew Li Longji 李隆基, a son of Ruizong, thwarted this plan and ended the lives of all three of those women. Princess Taiping had her own plans for ascendancy which became apparent during the second reign of Ruizong (710–712), but these were eventually scotched by Li Longji (known to history by his posthumous temple-name as Xuanzong 玄宗) who put the dynasty back on a strong footing and ruled for more than forty years during the great age that came to be known as the “High Tang.” Those were the golden years, the famous Kaiyuan 開元 (713–742) and Tianbao 天寶 (742–756) eras that saw the fullest flowering of Tang power, prosperity, and cultural distinction. However, Xuanzong’s reign terminated in the catastrophe of the An Lushan 安祿山 rebellion, which lasted from late 755 to 763 and included the emperor’s ignominious abandonment of the capital and flight to Szechwan. In fits and starts the Tang regained control of the whole country, but for the next century and a half certain parts of the state were supervised more by local military commissioners than by bureaucrats from the central government, although the official administrative machinery of the empire continued to function and both the idea and the reality of the Tang state was preserved. There was a pervasive sense, though, that the world had changed, and this second half of the Tang dynasty was in some ways a different polity than the first half. Culturally, nevertheless, there was much continuity. Although some scholars see the great rebellion of the mid-eighth century as the beginning of a new period in Chinese history, the so-called “early modern” or the inaptly termed “Middle Period” extending on even to the late Ming, it is more accurate to regard the Tang as a single whole, representing the era of “late medieval” China. Within general continuities, there were of course, as would naturally be expected over time, certain developments and changes of emphasis in political, scholarly, literary, and to some degree social trends during the dynasty’s last century and a half.

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Two important features of Tang government, which lasted with some variation till the twentieth century, might be underlined here. The first is the famous civil-service examination system, with the jinshi 進士 (“Presented Scholar”) exam as its most competitive and prestigious challenge. Some misconceptions exist about this annual exam. It did not attain the high status it is usually thought of as having till 681, when a separate section focusing on literary composition was added to it. Although it is often said that lyric poetry (shi 詩) was the focus of this section, that was so only occasionally and even then only partially; more often when verse composition was required it was the fu 賦 that was asked for, a more expansive and demanding genre of poetry. The focus of the exam questions for the jinshi and the genres of writing required for it (almost always including one or another form of parallel prose) were often in dispute and often changed. By the ninth century an increasingly elaborate ritual program surrounded the presentation of candidates at court, the exam itself, the posting of results, and celebrations for those who passed. But passing the jinshi exam was not a ticket to high office or indeed to any office, for successful graduates had then to sit for a higher-level xuan 選 (“selection”) exam, the passing of which only then qualified one as a possible candidate for official appointment but guaranteed nothing. The most desirable initial appointment came to be a one- or two-year assignment as a collator or editor in one of the imperial libraries in Chang’an, allowing one to remain in the capital, have access to texts that might otherwise be difficult to consult, and also take advantage of opportunities to meet and become known to higher officials who could help a budding career. A sense of the competitive nature of the exam comes with the realization that there were typically no more than thirty individuals who were certified as passing the jinshi in any year, out of nearly a thousand candidates. Also worth noting is the importance of the so-called decree examinations, several of which might be held in any one year, these being called at the behest of the emperor for specified purposes, and under a variety of names; candidates were fewer and those who made the grade here but a handful. The meaningful point is that the exam system, despite the ideal of meritocracy and aura of brilliance attached to it, contributed a quite small number of individuals to the very large official bureaucracy, most of whose members came in through different routes of family privilege. Another particularly noteworthy feature of Tang government, which had a long and important legacy, was the establishment of a dedicated historio­ graphy office. The responsibilities of this office included full-scale and wide-ranging archiving of records pertaining to places, people, and events of relevance to the dynasty, both current and past, and the periodic composition

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of summaries, narratives, and monographs drawn from these materials. The accounts of contemporary matters were recorded and collected, ideally for the ultimate use of historians of later dynasties who would write the definitive history of the Tang. But there was constant discussion and controversy regarding the proper interpretation of earlier documents, especially as their significance affected the formulation and execution of present-day policies. Indeed, history and scholarship were hardly to be distinguished, and both were of political as well as practical consequence. Shifting our perspective only slightly, one can also locate them both in the broader field of “literature” conceived generally. Like the dynasties that came before it, the Tang was part of a civilization that valued and emphasized literature—the written word—to a degree hardly matched elsewhere in the world. It is no wonder in this regard that sinological studies should by tradition be so obsessively text-centered, even while additional inquiry is today allotted to other matters such as material culture. But even the focus of archaeology, which is annually revealing to us new objects of study, is most often directed to excavated texts, notably epigraphy. It is what the Chinese of Tang times, as of other eras, said for and about themselves that draws our continuing attention. Moreover, it is literature in its narrower sense, the expression of individual thought and feeling, that has always been recognized as the most illustrious aspect of Tang civilization. This explains its comparatively prominent place in Tang studies generally and in the extracts collected here. Scholars typically divide their focus in studying the past into large categories, usually dependent on the disciplinary boundaries of university departments. Hence there are specialists of history, or literature, or religion, etc. Since life is short and knowledge is infinite, these are necessary concessions. We realize nonetheless that lived existence in Tang China, as in our own individual experience today, did not proceed in terms of discrete divisible quanta. The men and women we study from past times were not themselves specialists but faced all sides of human experience. To begin to understand them properly, we must try to broaden our own perspectives accordingly. Hence the articles selected for reprinting here cover many different fields. Still, one cannot take in everything at once, and for convenience’ sake I have organized these items into three major categories: Political History; Literature and Cultural History; and Religion. In the past hundred years, as Western scholarship on premodern China has developed in increasingly sophisticated and inevitably more specialized ways, study of the “late medieval” period centered on the Tang has yielded manifold new discoveries and understandings of that great age. The four volumes here at hand gather extracts of some of the most important English-language

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General Introduction

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e­ xamples of these studies, with the intent of serving as a first (but hopefully not last) reference for interested students and scholars. If possible, I would have reprinted here the four most outstanding books on Tang China published in recent times, namely Edwin G. Pulleyblank’s The Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan (Oxford Univ. Press, 1955), Antonino Forte’s Political Propaganda and Ideology in China at the End of the Seventh Century (Naples: Istituto universitario orientale, 1976; much revised 2nd edn., Kyoto: Italian School of East Asian Studies, 2005), Stephen Owen’s The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang (Yale Univ. Press, 1981), and David McMullen’s State and Scholars in T’ang China (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1988). Pulleyblank’s and Forte’s books are so tightly structured that it was not feasible to extract a single chapter from either of them. From Owen’s and McMullen’s books I have drawn a chapter apiece but also included separately published articles on different topics by both authors. These four books should be at the top of the reading list for anyone interested in Tang China. Also in this category are the three great books of Edward H. Schafer, The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T’ang Exotics (Univ. of California Press, 1963), The Vermilion Bird: T’ang Images of the South (California, 1967), and Pacing the Void: T’ang Approaches to the Stars (California, 1977), which are in the nature of literary encyclopedias on different aspects of Tang culture and imagination. I had originally drawn up a list of eighty-five significant articles and book chapters for inclusion, but limitations of space demanded a severe reduction of that list, with the result that many equally deserving publications are, regrettably, not included here. Those that are included, as is Brill’s practice with all of the volumes in its Critical Readings series, have been completely reformatted in uniform style for ease of reading, and no longer carry their original pagination. Obvious typographical and factual errors have been corrected, but no substantive revisions of content have been made; the material stands as originally published, although most living authors would have welcomed the possibility to add later thoughts or more recent reflections. It should be noted that the older articles and chapters use the Wade-Giles romanization system that was standard in English-language scholarship till about two or three decades ago, while the more recent items use the Hanyu Pinyin system that is now the norm. Paul W. Kroll

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History—Political, Intellectual, and Military

∵

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Wên Ta-ya: The First Recorder of T’ang History Woodbridge Bingham One of the turning points in Chinese history came in 617 AD with the Duke of T’ang’s campaign from T’ai-yüan in Shansi to Ch’ang-an, the modern Sianfu, in Shensi. The empire of the short-lived Sui dynasty, which had reunited the whole of China for the first time in many years and had started a period of great cultural development, was rapidly disintegrating. Bandits and rebels had already gained control of large sections of the country. But it was reserved for the Duke of T’ang, Li Yüan, and his second son Li Shih-min (T’ang T’ai Tsung) to take advantage of this situation and to establish a power which would gradually supersede the Sui authority and gain control over all sections of the country. Their rule was the beginning of the T’ang dynasty, the “Golden Age” of China. The Duke of T’ang and his sons were in a position to make the best of the waning power of Sui Yang Ti (604–618). Briefly stated, their distinguished ancestry, the current prophecy concerning the future success of one of the Li name, their protected geographical location in Shansi, and Li Yüan’s personal record of official service and recent military success, all aided in making him unusually prominent at this time. Among the former Sui officials who looked to Li Yüan for leadership and flocked to join him even before he began his successful campaign through Shansi to the Western Capital, Ch’ang-an, was a scholar named Wên Ta-ya 温大雅. He accompanied the future emperor on his march into Shensi and served him for several years in positions of great confidence and responsibility. He was with Li Yüan when Ch’ang-an was captured and he helped to arrange the ceremonies at the inauguration of the new dynasty in 618. The Chinese literary works which are most commonly used as source materials for the history of this change in dynasty are three official dynastic histories: the Sui shu, Sui History or Book of Sui, which was written by men who took part in the founding of the T’ang dynasty within fifty years after the events, and the Chiu T’ang shu and T’ang shu, Old and New T’ang Histories, dated 945 and 1060 respectively, which are based on the official records and earlier histories of parts of the T’ang dynasty. Of these the Chiu T’ang shu is the most important for the events of 617 and 618.

Source: “Wen Ta-ya: The First Recorder of T’ang History,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 57 (1937): 368–74.

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To these standard histories must be added the work of Wên Ta-ya. In his capacity as official recorder at Li Yüan’s Headquarters he wrote a journal which is generally entitled the Ta T’ang ch’uang yeh ch’i chü chu1 or Court Journal of the Founding of the Great T’ang. This is a chronological résumé of events concerning Li Yüan and his founding of the dynasty from 615 up to the proclaiming of the new emperor. It differs in many important details from the narratives of the standard dynastic histories. Of especial significance is the fact that it makes out Li Yüan to be the real leader and gives little to indicate that his son Li Shih-min was particularly important. Most later accounts of the founding of the T’ang dynasty whether in Chinese or in western languages are based on the dynastic histories and stress the importance of Li Shih-min. This is done in spite of the fact that the Court Journal of Wên Ta-ya is recognized by Chinese scholars as containing reliable historical material. Hence there is a need for a critical study of this book in order that we may get a true understanding of the events which took place when the Duke of T’ang rebelled and took over the central authority at Ch’ang-an. At the commencement of each of the three chapters of the Court Journal and immediately following the title itself, the author is referred to in this way: “Written by the T’ang minister, ta hsing t’ai of Shan-tung tao 陝東道大行臺, Great State Pillar, Duke of Lo-p’ing chün and of the State’s Beginning, Wên Ta-ya.” The titles “Great State Pillar” (shang chu kuo) and “Duke of the State’s Beginning” (k’ai kuo kung) were both honorary titles indicating his participation in the founding of the new dynasty. The official biography of Wên Ta-ya is to be found in both of the T’ang histories. The version of the New T’ang History is obviously based on what had previously been written in the Old T’ang History and hence the newer history is used here chiefly as a check in translating the older version. The following is a translation of the biography of Wên Ta-ya from the Chiu T’ang shu, ch. 61, pp. 1a–1b2 (parallel account in T’ang shu, ch. 91, pp. 1a–1b): Translation Wên Ta-ya, tzŭ Yen-hung 彥弘, was a man of Ch’i 祁 in T’ai-yüan. His father was [Wên] Chün-yu 君悠.3 Under the Northern Ch’i he was a Scholar-Official of the 1  大唐創業起居注. 2  T’ung wên shu chü photo-lithographic reprint of the Ch’ien Lung palace edition of 1739, Shanghai, 1884. 3  T’ang shu ch. 91, p. 1a, gives 君攸, same pronunciation. Chiu T’ang shu chiao k’an chi ch. 34, p. 15b, considers 悠 a mistake. Paul W. Kroll - 978-90-04-38015-8 Downloaded from Brill.com11/09/2020 11:07:29AM via free access

Wên Ta-Ya: The First Recorder of T ’ ang History

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Wên lin Academy 文林舘. Under the Sui [dynasty] he was ssŭ-ma of Ssŭ chou 泗州 [in present Kiangsu]. At the end of Ta Yeh [reign-period of Sui Yang Ti 605–617] he was Secretary in the Board of Justice [ssŭ li ts’ung shih 司隸從事. When he saw that the Sui government was daily becoming more confused he excused himself on account of illness and retired from office. [Wên] Ta-ya by nature was most filial. In his youth he was fond of learning, and for able accomplishment his reputation was well known. [The T’ang shu version here adds: (Wên Ta-ya) with his younger brothers Yen-po 彥博4 and Ta-yu 大有 were all well known. When Hsüeh Tao-hêng 薛道衡 (an official under the Northern Ch’i, Northern Chou, and Sui dynasties; Sui shu, ch. 57) saw them he sighed in admiration and said: “All three men indeed have the abilities of high ministers.” (This passage appears to be adapted from the Chiu T’ang shu biography of Wên Yen-po; ch. 61, p. 2a.)] [Wên Ta-ya] held office under the Sui as Scholar-Official of the Eastern Palace [i. e. at the court of the Heir Apparent, who was at this time Yang Yung, a prince opposed and superseded by the Emperor Yang Ti] and as District Marshal of Ch’ang-an. On account of mourning for his father he retired from office. Later on because the empire was disturbed he did not [again] seek to hold office. When Kao Tsu [Li Yüan] was in charge of the garrison at T’ai-yüan he greatly honored [Wên Ta-ya]. When the “Righteous Troops” rose [in revolt], he brought in [Wên Ta-ya] to act as Staff Officer in charge of Records [chi shih ts’an chün 記室參軍] at the Generalissimo’s Headquarters. He had special control of official documents. At the time of the abdication and succession [i. e. of the last Sui emperor, Yang Yu (Sui Kung Ti 617–618), and Li Yüan (T’ang Kao Tsu) respectively] he and the Staff Officer in charge of Interdepartmental Affairs [ssŭ lu (ts’an chün) 司錄(參軍)]5 Tou Wei and the Chief Registrar [chu po 主簿] Ch’ên Shu-ta 陳叔達 together arranged the ceremonies. During the first year of Wu Tê [618] he was transferred to be Vice-President of the Department of the Imperial Chancellory [huang mên shih lang 黃門 侍郞]. His younger brother [Wên] Yen-po became Vice-President of the Department of the Grand Imperial Secretariat [chung shu shih lang 中書 侍郞]. The pair occupied positions of close intimacy [with the Emperor Kao Tsu] and in [Imperial] deliberations they were honored. Kao Tsu in a relaxed mood spoke [to them] and said: “When I raised the Righteous Army at Chinyang, it was only by means of you [two].”

4  His recorded tzŭ Ta-lin 大臨 may possibly have been his real given name. 5  The full title with the last two characters added is given in Tou Wei’s biography, Chiu T’ang shu, ch. 61, p. 6a. Paul W. Kroll - 978-90-04-38015-8 Downloaded from Brill.com11/09/2020 11:07:29AM via free access

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After this he was transferred to the Board of Public Works. He was promoted to be ta hsing t’ai of Shan-tung tao and President of the Board of Public Works. On account of the Yin Heir Apparent [Li Chien-ch’êng] and Prince Ch’aotz’ŭ [Li Yüan-chi] [these two were plotting against their brother Li Shih-min] T’ai Tsung [i. e Li Shih-min] ordered [Wên] Ta-ya to take charge of the garrison at Lo-yang so as to anticipate [their] rebellion. [Wên] Ta-ya several times arranged secret plans and [thereby] received much official approval and rewards. When T’ai Tsung came to the throne he was successively transferred to be President of the Board of Rites and invested as Duke of the state of Li 黎國公. When [Wên] Ta-ya was about to rebury his paternal grandfather, the diviners said: “Burial at this place harms the elder brother and brings happiness to the younger.” Ta-ya said: “If this brings about my younger brother’s everlasting prosperity, I shall die with a smile on my lips.” The burial was finished. After a little more than a year he died. His posthumous name was Hsiao 孝 [meaning “Filial”]. He wrote “The Court Journal of the Founding [of the Great T’ang]” in three chapters 卷. In Yung Hui 5th year [654, the 5th year of the T’ang emperor Kao Tsung] he was posthumously entitled: Right Vice-President of the Department of State Affairs [shang shu yu p’u yeh 尙書右僕射]. This concludes the Chiu T’ang shu biography. There are a few further but mostly unimportant references to Wên Ta-ya in the early literature. Other biographies in Chiu T’ang shu ch. 61 give statements containing no additional information and the section on bibliography merely states his authorship of the Court Journal as it appears in his biography.6 Other items concerning Wên Ta-ya are contained in various Sung dynasty works: the T’ang hui yao, ch. 79, p. 18a; the T’ai p’ing yü lan, ch. 221; the Tzŭ chih t’ung chien of Ssŭ-ma Kuang, ch. 184, p. 2b; and the Ts’ê fu yüan kuei, ch. 782, p. 15b. These four all appear to be citations from the Chiu T’ang shu biography and are important only inasmuch as they present variant readings of the original. The Ts’ê fu yüan kuei is a collection of early documents published in 1013. Among them, in the section on “National History, (List of) Selected Works,” is also included an item which throws a different light on one of the points in which we are most interested, the writing of the Court Journal. This is the statement: “Wên Ta-ya was President of the Board of Rites; he wrote The Annals of the Establishment of the Present Ruler in his Royal Estate (Chin Shang wang 6  Chiu T’ang shu, ch. 46A, p. 31b.

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Wên Ta-Ya: The First Recorder of T ’ ang History

yeh chi 今上王業記) in six chapters.”7 This helps to confirm the authorship of Wên Ta-ya and from the unusual wording of the title one is led to believe that the Court Journal was written during the reign of T’ang Kao Tsu, i. e. Li Yüan, as emperor and before he abdicated the throne to his son Li Shih-min. Another reference also indicates the early writing of the Court Journal and gives us what perhaps may have been the manuscript title while the events were being recorded and even before Li Yüan ascended the throne. In the New Revised Gazetteer of the District of Ch’i (this Ch’i was the native home of Wên Ta-ya), our scholar-official’s biography is found in the section on “local worthies” and has been compared with the biographies in the dynastic histories.8 It is identical in every way with the version of the New T’ang History except that the latter does not contain any reference to the Court Journal while at the end of the biography in the gazetteer is added this sentence: “He wrote the Official Annals of the Great Chancellor, the Prince of T’ang (Chu Ta ch’êng hsiang T’ang wang kuan shu chi 著大丞相唐王官屬記).” These personal titles were those assumed by Li Yüan a week after he had taken Ch’ang-an and at the time when he set up the boy Yang Yu as a puppet emperor, that is six months before he actually became emperor himself. The various problems connected with the Court Journal cannot be fully discussed at this time. But it may be pertinent in connection with Wên Ta-ya’s biography to add a little of what later scholars have thought about the date of his book. In a post-face to a Ming edition of the Court Journal the Ming scholar Hu Chên-hêng 胡震享 says that it was probably written while Li Chien-ch’êng (Li Shih-min’s elder brother) was Heir Apparent, that is during the period 618– 626, the reign of Li Yüan as emperor.9 This also is the generally accepted opinion among Chinese scholars of the present day,—that Wên Ta-ya’s book in its present form is an authentic document of the reign of T’ang Kao Tsu. Wên Ta-ya could not have written much later than this time for he probably died within the next ten years, i. e. during the first part of the reign of T’ang T’ai Tsung. We have no dates either for his birth or his death and can only calculate them from what we know about his younger brother Wên Yen-po. The latter died in 637 AD at the age of sixty-four according to Chinese reckoning.10 Hence he was born in 574 and his older brother some time prior to that date. Wên Ta-ya is not mentioned in the T’ang annals for the reign of T’ai Tsung or his successor Kao Tsung and so any reckoning concerning his death must be 7  Ts’ê fu yüan kuei (1814 edition), ch. 556, p. 14a. 8  Hsin hsiu Ch’i hsien chih 新脩祁縣志 (1882), ch. 7, pp. 24a–25a. 9  Chin tai pi shu 津逮祕書, Collection 10, Volume cm, Postface 3. 10   Chiu T’ang shu, ch. 61, p. 3b, and ch. 3, p. 8a.

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based on the details of his biography and the dates of his brother. From the anecdote about the reburial of his grandfather and the prophecy of his brother’s prosperity followed by Wên Ta-ya’s death a year later it is probable that Wên Yen-po was still alive when the prophecy was made. The other brother, Ta-yu, had died in 618.11 Hence Wên Ta-ya probably died some time between his last appointments, which were made after T’ai Tsungs’s accession in 626, and the death of Yen-po in 637. Our scholar-official may then have died about the same time as his former master the first T’ang emperor whose death came in 635 nine years after his abdication of the throne. Their lives were bound together in many ways and to the extent that Li Yüan is an important figure in Chinese history so also must Wên Ta-ya’s career be understood. The latter’s importance and that of his Court Journal is enhanced by the fact that he himself was a participant in the founding of the new dynasty. He was among the Shansi group of Sui officials who were with Li Yüan at the very start of the T’ang rebellion. As Recorder and keeper of official documents at the Duke of T’ang’s headquarters Wên Ta-ya was on the inside of what was happening and Li Yüan himself later referred to him as an important member of those who shared in the responsibility for the success of the whole enterprise. At the time when he probably was finishing his account of the founding he was an official of high standing at the court and was personally trusted not only by the first emperor Kao Tsu but by his successor T’ang T’ai Tsung. Such was the man who officially recorded the beginnings of T’ang history. 11   Chiu T’ang shu, ch. 61, p. 4b.

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The Rise to Power of the T’ang Dynasty: A Reassessment Howard J. Wechsler The traditional interpretation of the founding of the T’ang, which holds that T’ai-tsung rather than his father, Kao-tsu, was the genius behind the revolt that eventuated in the establishment of the dynasty, was given final form in the tenth and eleventh centuries with the compilation of two Standard, or canonical, dynastic histories (cheng-shih). The first of these, the Old T’ang History (Chiu T’ang-shu) of 945, states, “At this time, because Sui rule had already come to an end, T’ai-tsung secretly planned the righteous uprising.”1 The second, the New T’ang History (Hsin T’ang-shu), completed in 1060, notes, “When Kao-tsu first rose in Taiyuan, it was not his own idea; rather the affair originated with T’ai-tsung.”2 Perpetuating the view of the Standard Histories was the great Sung historian Ssu-ma Kuang, who, in his monumental chronicle, the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government (Tzu-chih t’ung-chien) of 1084, concluded, “The emperor’s raising of troops in Chinyang was entirely planned by the Prince of Ch’in (T’ai-tsung)” and “Kao-tsu obtained the empire entirely because of T’ai-tsung’s merit.”3 Until a short time ago this traditional view of early T’ang history received almost universal credence. Recently, though, a small group of revisionists led by the Chinese scholars Lo Hsiang-lin and Li Shu-t’ung have reassessed the roles played in the T’ang founding by the first and second emperors.4 They have reinterpreted data in the T’ang Standard Histories, relying chiefly on information culled from their biographical sections (lieh-chuan), and have also made important use of an early seventh-century source almost totally ignored by the traditionalists, the Source: “The Rise to Power of the T’ang Dynasty: A Reassessment,” in Howard J. Wechsler, Mirror to the Son of Heaven: Wei Cheng at the Court of T’ang T’ai-tsung, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974, pp. 8–32. 1  c ts 2.2. 2  h ts 2.4b. 3  t ctc ch. 190, p. 5957; ch. 191, p. 6012. 4  See Lo Hsiang-lin, T’ang-tai wen-hua shih [A Cultural History of the T’ang Dynasty] (Taipei, 1955), chap. 1; Li Shu-t’ung, T’ang-shih k’ao-pien [An Examination of T’ang History] (Taipei, 1965), pp. 1–42, 43–98, 276–309. The chapter by Lo was originally published as an article in 1936; those by Li were originally published as articles in the 1950s and early 1960s.

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Diary of the Founding of the Great T’ang Dynasty (Ta-T’ang ch’uang-yeh ch’ichü-chu) by Wen Ta-ya. They have, in short, essentially rewritten the history of the period. The arguments presented in this chapter are to a substantial degree based on their impressively detailed researches as well as on my own more recent excursions through early T’ang history.

The Decline of the Sui and the Rise of Li Yüan

The Sui dynasty (589–618), predecessor of the T’ang, came to power when its founder, Wen-ti, usurped the throne of the Northern Chou, last of the regimes that had dominated North China during the Period of Disunion. Eight years later Wen-ti toppled the southern house of Ch’en, brought to an end the political and cultural fragmentation that had plagued China for close to four centuries, and launched its Second Empire. But Wen-ti’s triumph was ephemeral, and within two generations his dynasty also lay in ruins. At first there was little to portend that the Sui would be so short-lived. Wen-ti reestablished a highly centralized government marked by an impressive level of administrative rationality. Many of the emperor’s officials were recruited by means of the newly revived civil service examinations, which were designed to reward merit over hereditary privilege. A magnificant capital of unprecedented scale—almost six miles east to west and more than five miles north to south—and aptly named Ta-hsing-ch’eng, or “Great Revival City,” was constructed southeast of the old Han capital, Ch’ang-an, on the site of modern Sian. Reimposition of the “equal-field” land-tenure system of the Northern Dynasties, combined with the development of new and more efficient methods of tax collection, swelled the national revenues. Grain shipments to the food-poor capital region were facilitated by the construction of a canal (the Kuang-t’ung ch’ü) linking Ta-hsing-ch’eng with the fertile plain lying to the east, beyond the T’ung Pass. A variety of state, prefectural, and village granaries were built to combat famine. The border defense along the northern frontier was substantially reinforced by massively repairing, rebuilding, and extending the Great Wall. Neighboring tribes and states were weakened as a result of the vigorous foreign policies Wen-ti pursued on the diplomatic and military fronts. Lastly, Wen-ti began the difficult task of uniting the many disparate political, ethnic, and cultural groups that had developed during the Period of Disunion under successive alien regimes in the north and Chinese royal houses in the south.5 By the time of his death in 604, the first Sui emperor had wrought what 5  See Arthur F. Wright, “The Formation of Sui Ideology, 581–604,” in Chinese Thought and Institutions, John K. Fairbank, ed. (Chicago, 1957), pp. 71–104. Paul W. Kroll - 978-90-04-38015-8 Downloaded from Brill.com11/09/2020 11:07:29AM via free access

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must have seemed a miracle to most of his subjects: China was united, peaceful, and prosperous for the first time in centuries.6 The reign of Wen-ti’s son, Yang-ti, also began promisingly enough.7 Yang-ti continued to improve Sui administration, promulgated a new code of laws less stringent than his father’s, expanded the state system of education and civil service examinations (it was during Yang-ti’s time that the famous chin-shih examination originated), and sponsored a revival of Confucian learning. On the foreign front, he briefly extended Sui suzerainty over the Eastern Turks to the north of China and manipulated the Western Turks, those in the region west of the Jade Gate and north of the Tarim Basin, to China’s advantage. He drove the T’u-yü-hun from their homeland in modern Tsinghai province and opened relations with Japan. Great amounts of tribute from the Sui’s Central Asian vassals poured into Ta-hsing-ch’eng along the silk routes, which were the links between China and West Asia and, beyond it, Europe. In the end, if we are to believe accounts in the Sui Standard History, the Suishu, Yang-ti’s program of public works, carried out on a gigantic scale, brought disaster to the dynasty. During the period 605–10 the second Sui emperor constructed an eastern capital (tung-tu) at Loyang in northern Honan, roughly half the size of Ta-hsing-ch’eng, and expanded upon his father’s work on the Great Wall. He had a series of canals hundreds of miles in length redredged or constructed anew, linking Loyang first with the Huai and Yangtze River valleys (via the T’ung-chi ch’ü) and then with the region further south terminating at modern Hangchow (via the Chiang-nan ho). Following the completion of the T’ung-chi canal, the emperor set sail aboard a “dragon boat” for Chiang-tu (modern Yangchow), his “river capital” near the Yangtze, leading a flotilla of vessels stretching in close file for more than sixty miles. The longest of all Yangti’s canals (the Yung-chi ch’ü) linked Loyang with the region around modern Peking. Hundreds of thousands of laborers were conscripted for these vast undertakings, great numbers of whom perished, and the economic resources of the newly united country were strained to the breaking point. For these “excesses” Yang-ti has earned the opprobrium of countless Chinese commentators, who have damned him with a stereotyped portrayal as a “bad last” ruler. Yet in so doing they have largely ignored his many positive 6  Two recent studies that stress the accomplishments of Sui Wen-ti are T’ang Ch’eng-yeh, Sui Wen-ti cheng-chih shih-kung chih yen-chiu [The Political Achievements of Sui Wen-ti] (Taipei, 1967), and Arthur F. Wright, “The Sui Dynasty,” in the forthcoming Cambridge History of China. 7  The following material relating to Sui Yang-ti is largely based on Woodbridge Bingham, The Founding of the T’ang Dynasty: The Fall of Sui and the Rise of T’ang (Baltimore, 1941; reprint 1970), pp. 1–59, and Wright, “The Sui Dynasty.” Paul W. Kroll - 978-90-04-38015-8 Downloaded from Brill.com11/09/2020 11:07:29AM via free access

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contributions to the consolidation of the Sui. To cite just two examples, the canals he built brought the Sui into easy communication with most of the major food-producing regions of China; and the elaborately mounted imperial progresses he made over their waters were in many respects a continuation by other means of his father’s efforts to weld together the highly heterogeneous peoples of late sixth-century and early seventh-century China. Étienne Balazs has justly called Yang-ti the real founder of the Second Empire because he integrated the southeast into the rest of the country for the first time since the Han.8 Unfortunately, following upon the completion of many of his most ambitious public works, and before the peasantry had time to recover from oppressive levies of forced labor and taxes, Yang-ti began the first of three disastrous campaigns to conquer Koguryŏ, a kingdom located east of the Liao River on the northern half of the Korean peninsula. The first campaign of 611–12 proved unsuccessful for two major reasons: a great flood in the lower Yellow River valley that caused heavy desertions in the Sui ranks among men from the affected region, and the failure of Sui forces to reach the Koguryŏ capital before the onset of winter. Nevertheless, Yang-ti proceeded with his second and equally disappointing Koguryŏ campaign of 613, levying new taxes and conscripting more men. Widely scattered revolts now erupted across China, the most serious of which took place in Honan province led by the Sui president of the Board of Rites (li-pu shang-shu), Yang Hsüan-kan.9 It was quickly crushed by the government. Beginning in 614, as Yang-ti embarked upon yet another attempt to take Koguryŏ, rebellion began to engulf the entire country. Desertions in the Sui ranks became rife, supplies for the army failed to reach their destinations, and Sui military power rapidly ebbed. Late in 615 China’s “barbarian” neighbors to the north, the Eastern Turks, weakened the emperor’s prestige still further by surrounding him at the town of Yen-men in northern Shansi while he was inspecting fortifications along the Great Wall. Yang-ti was forced to endure the embarrassment of being detained at Yen-men for a full month before the Turkish siege was broken by Sui reinforcements. Following his return to Ta-hsing-ch’eng from Yen-men, the growing threat of civil disturbance and the continued inability of Sui armies to restore order 8  Étienne Balazs, “L’Oeuvre des Souei: L’Unification,” in Histoire et institutions de la Chine ancienne, by Henri Maspero and Etienne Balazs (Paris, 1967), p. 165. 9  For a study of Yang Hsüan-kan’s revolt, see Nunome Chōfū, “Yō Genkan no hanran” [The Revolt of Yang Hsüan-kan], Ritsumeikan bungaku [Ritsumeikan University Journal of Cultural Sciences], 236 (1965), 1–30.

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The Rise to Power of the T ’ ang Dynasty: A Reassessment

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prompted the emperor to sail south to Chiang-tu. Thereafter he remained in seclusion, isolated from the news of his crumbling empire, immobilized by self-doubt. The resulting political vacuum was increasingly filled by other men: Sui local officials, commanders of local military elites (hao-chieh), “bandit” (tsei) chiefs, and rebel leaders. Early in 618 Yang-ti was assassinated at his Yangtze capital by one of his own officials, Yü-wen Hua-chi. By this time, however, he had already been demoted to the status of “retired emperor” (t’aishang huang) by the rebel conqueror of Ta-hsing-ch’eng, the Duke of T’ang, Li Yüan (the given name of T’ang Kao-tsu), who would shortly establish a dynasty that came to rival the Han in extent and splendor. Like the majority of dynastic founders before and after him, Li Yüan was of noble lineage. His ancestors, members of the northwestern aristocracy centered in Shensi and Kansu, occupied prominent offices in successive semi“barbarian” regimes in North China from the time of the Northern Wei dynasty; some scholars have even hypothesized that the Li-T’ang house was itself originally “barbarian.”10 What is clear, at any rate, is that the first T’ang emperor was at least half non-Chinese, for his mother, née Tu-ku, was of noble Hsien-pei stock. At the beginning of the Northern Chou dynasty, Li Yüan’s grandfather was posthumously ennobled Duke of T’ang principality, a title that was first passed on to Li Yüan’s father and then on to Li Yüan at the age of six in the year 574. Since his mother was the sister of Sui Wen-ti’s consort, in his youth Li Yüan was a frequent guest at the Sui imperial palace. While still in his teens, Li Yüan embarked upon his official career as one of the elite palace guard (ch’ien-niu pei-shen). His relationship by marriage to Emperor Wen brought him rapid promotion, and soon he was enjoying high office in the provincial bureaucracy. Under Emperor Yang, Li Yüan was summoned back to the imperial palace first as the assistant director of the Department of Imperial Domestic Service (tien-nei shao-chien) and later as the vice-president of the Court of Imperial Insignia (wei-wei shao-ch’ing). In 613, during Yang-ti’s second campaign against Koguryŏ, he was put in charge of transporting provisions at the Huai-yüan garrison (chen) in modern Liaoning province. A turning point in Li Yüan’s career came this same year with the eruption of Yang Hsüan-kan’s revolt at Li-yang in northern Honan. According to one 10  While it is clear that Li Yüan’s immediate paternal forebears came from Lung-hsi, modern Kansu province, the more remote origins—both geographical and racial—of the Li-T’ang house have been hotly argued since the 1930s by Liu P’an-sui, Ch’en Yin-k’o, Kanei Yukitada, Chu Hsi-tsu, Wang T’ung-ling, and Ts’en Chung-mien, among others. The debate continues.

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source, when Yang was preparing to revolt, his brothers fled to Honan from the ranks of the Sui expeditionary army in Liaoning; it was Li Yüan who first discovered and reported these defections to Yang-ti.11 The emperor then appointed Li Yüan garrison commander (liu-shou) of Hung-hua commandery (chün) at modern Ch’ing-yang in the easternmost part of Kansu province, and ordered that all armies “to the right of the Pass” (kuan-yu, the region to the west of the T’ung Pass, comprising modern Shensi and eastern Kansu provinces) were to be placed under his command in order to resist the rebels. As a result of steadily deteriorating conditions throughout the country, from this time forward Li Yüan held posts exclusively in the Sui military hierarchy. During the period 615 to 616 he destroyed two “bandit” organizations in southern Shansi and successfully opposed Turkish incursions into the northern portion of the province. By 616 Sui control of the central Shansi region had become seriously weakened as a result of the defeat of imperial forces in Taiyuan by the “bandit” Chen Ti-erh and a force of followers said to have numbered one hundred thousand men. When Li Yüan crushed Chen less than a year later, he was awarded the post of garrison commander (liu-shou) of Taiyuan (T’ai-yüan fu), with headquarters at the town of Chin-yang. As Bingham has observed, this new appointment, made some months after Yang-ti had sailed into splendid isolation at Chiang-tu, may merely have reflected the considerable de facto power Li Yüan already wielded in the region.12 Despite this promotion, Li Yüan’s position under the Sui was actually quite insecure. About the year 614 a ballad of enigmatic wording had gained currency among the people predicting that the next person to occupy the throne would be surnamed Li, a name as common in China as Smith and Jones in our country. The ballad helped to launch or advance precipitately the careers of other rebels surnamed Li, such as Li Mi and Li Kuei.13 At the same time, it made Yang-ti paranoiacally suspicious of all those in his employ bearing the tainted surname, a condition most notably illustrated by his execution of thirty-two members of the clan of Li Hun, including that hapless official. Li Yüan well knew that there was a distinct possibility he would soon suffer a similar fate.

11   h ts 1.1b. 12   The Founding of the T’ang Dynasty, pp. 79–80. 13  Woodbridge Bingham, “The Rise of Li in a Ballad Prophecy,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 61 (1941), 272–73; tctc ch. 183, p. 5709; ch. 184, pp. 5745–46.

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The Rise to Power of the T ’ ang Dynasty: A Reassessment



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The T’ang Uprising—Variations on a Theme

It is at this point that the traditional and revisionist accounts of the T’ang founding part company. According to